Keanu Neal

[night]

There's not way to sugarcoat it...they did reach on Neal based on what the board looked like, but it's not as big a reach as I was thinking initially.

Ragland, and or Lee had a lot of support including mine. Those were two other DEF players we thought we good candidates for ATL.

Well...somewhat quickly, the traditional run stopping MLB stock has dropped...evident by Ragland going in the 2nd rd. clearly he had a 1st rd grade and was mocked that way on most boards I saw. Teams are migrating to LBs with speed that can support the run and still cover.

Lee...he fits that mold of LB, but they really felt Neal would not be on the board in the 2nd, but Deion Jones would be so they took Neal and were correct Jones was there and they felt he could give them the same thing Lee could.

The next guy that made sense to me as a strong side DE was Dodd...he went in the 2nd rd.

Of course idk what Neal is going to do, but just listening to Dave Archer and some of the analyst that really know the Falcons...Arch thinks Neal will have a learning curve, but can pick up where Willie Mo left off fairly quickly and better in coverage eventually.

It's possible Quinn and company thought they already had that by signing Courtney Upshaw (ex-Ravens linebacker who's forte is stopping the run) and wanted to go with a hybrid with their draft pick in round 2 with Jones. As tempting as taking Lee would have been he's still a project pick as well. The front office must have thought that there was more value in taking a LB in the 2nd because Deion Jones has a ton of athleticism too.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

It's possible Quinn and company thought they already had that by signing Courtney Upshaw (ex-Ravens linebacker who's forte is stopping the run) and wanted to go with a hybrid with their draft pick in round 2 with Jones. As tempting as taking Lee would have been he's still a project pick as well. The front office must have thought that there was more value in taking a LB in the 2nd because Deion Jones has a ton of athleticism too.

Upshaw, agreed...he probably will play the SLB and keep Warrilow in the middle.

Lee might have been the pick, but I think the safeties starting falling much earlier than teams may have expected with OAK taking Joesph...so they decided not to chance it knowing they had Jones as an option later.

On paper the schedule is harder than LY, but I think the Falcons can take another step forward under Quinn if Ryan is not the turnover machine he was LY...CAR gets Benjamin back, but lose Norman and I don't get the FA Boykin sign and release.

 

[night]

Upshaw, agreed...he probably will play the SLB and keep Warrilow in the middle.

Lee might have been the pick, but I think the safeties starting falling much earlier than teams may have expected with OAK taking Joesph...so they decided not to chance it knowing they had Jones as an option later.

On paper the schedule is harder than LY, but I think the Falcons can take another step forward under Quinn if Ryan is not the turnover machine he was LY...CAR gets Benjamin back, but lose Norman and I don't get the FA Boykin sign and release.

The schedule seems pretty brutal to me. Raiders, Saints 2x (I know they're not great but they're a big rival where anything can happen for anybody), Panthers 2x, Broncos, Seahawks, Chargers, Packers, Cardinals, and Chiefs are all going to be tough games. Then you have the Bucs 2x who are getting better and the Rams who have a decent defense and Gurley. That's the bulk of the schedule. I wouldn't be surprised if we had worse than an 8-8 record with a better overall team to be honest.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

The schedule seems pretty brutal to me. Raiders, Saints 2x (I know they're not great but they're a big rival where anything can happen for anybody), Panthers 2x, Broncos, Seahawks, Chargers, Packers, Cardinals, and Chiefs are all going to be tough games. Then you have the Bucs 2x who are getting better and the Rams who have a decent defense and Gurley. That's the bulk of the schedule. I wouldn't be surprised if we had worse than an 8-8 record with a better overall team to be honest.

I agree...they could be better and lose more games.

They were pretty awful in DIV LY...1 win I think, maybe 2...but I think they split in DIV for 3 wins.

LA will be starting a rookie QB most likely, KC imo will not be as good, but still tough, SD, DEN, OAK...those are are winnable games.

They key imo is Ryan getting back to playing like Matt Ryan...gotta reduce the picks...all that said, I would be surprised if they are worse, but the tougher schedule will have their attention every week.